JPH0498416A - Data writing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To properly receive picture information by notifying the end of writing to user process when the reproduction of writing data preserved in a buffer area for user process is ended and starting data recording operation to an external storage device. CONSTITUTION:User process UP secures the buffer area for writing whose storage capacity is larger than the buffer area for user process preserving the writing data. When data writing request is issued from the user process UP, the writing data preserved in the buffer area for user process at that time are reproduced to the buffer area for writing, the end of writing is notified to the user process UP at the time of the end of data reproduction, and data recording operation to the external storage device is started. Therefore, the end of writing is notified just after the user process UP issues data writing request. Thus, the next picture information is appropriately received in the user process UP.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a data writing method for writing data to an external storage device in which the access time is longer than the response time required by a user process.

[Prior Art] For example, software for a facsimile machine includes a processing program (hereinafter referred to as an operating system) that controls the operations of each part of the facsimile machine, and processes such as transmission procedure processing of the facsimile machine (hereinafter referred to as a user process). Separated into programs to be executed. Further, the user process is composed of a plurality of functional unit programs.

In this way, by using an operating system and dividing the program into small processing units, it is possible to use a common program on different models of facsimile machines, increasing efficiency when developing software for a new model, for example. can be significantly improved.

For example, when storing received image information in an external storage device, the user process receives the image information and also stores the received image information in the external storage device; , a user process issues a data write request to the operating system.

At this time, the execution of the user process is suspended until the operating system finishes the data write operation requested by the user process, and at the point when the data write operation is finished, the operation of the user process is continued.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, such conventional devices have the following disadvantages.

In other words, if an external storage device with relatively slow access speed, such as an optical disk device, is used,
The operating system takes a relatively long time to write the data specified by the user process to the external storage device, which increases the waiting time of the user process.
As a result, the user process may not be able to receive the image information that it should receive next, causing the inconvenience that the received image information may be missed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a data writing method that eliminates the disadvantages of the conventional apparatus and allows received image information to be received appropriately.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention secures a write buffer area with a larger storage capacity than the user process buffer area in which the user process saves write data, and issues a data write request from the user process. When the write data is saved in the buffer area for the user process at that time, it is copied to the write buffer area, and when the data copying is completed, the user process is notified of the completion of writing, and the external The data recording operation for the storage device is started.

[Operation] Therefore, the end of writing is notified immediately after the user process issues a data write request, so the user process can appropriately receive the next image information.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a Group 3 facsimile machine according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, a control unit 1 performs control processing of each part of the facsimile machine and facsimile transmission control procedure processing, and a system memory 2 stores control processing programs and processing programs executed by the control unit 1. The parameter memory 3 is used to store various types of data required when executing the fax machine, and constitutes the work area of the control unit 1. The parameter memory 3 is used to store various types of information specific to this group 3 facsimile machine. It is.

The scanner 4 is for reading a document image at a predetermined resolution, the CRT display device 5 is for displaying and outputting received image information, and the display control unit 6 is for displaying received image information, etc. on the CRT display device 5. The operation display unit 7 is used to operate this facsimile machine, and includes various operation keys and
Consists of various indicators.

The encoding/decoding unit 8 encodes and compresses the image signal and decodes the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal. It is used to store a large amount of compressed image information. Furthermore, the optical disc device w9 can replace the optical disc 10 used as a storage medium.

The group 3 facsimile modem 11 is for realizing the group 3 facsimile modem function, and has a low speed modem function (V,
21 modem), and a high-speed modem function (V, 29 modem, V, 27ter) mainly for exchanging image information.
modem).

The network control device 12 is for connecting this facsimile device to the public telephone line network, and has an automatic call originating and receiving function.

These control unit 1, system memory 2. Parameter memory 3, scanner 4, display control section 6, operation display section 7, encoding/decoding section 8, optical disk device 9. Group 3 facsimile modem 11 and network control device 12 are connected to system bus 13, and data exchange between these elements is mainly performed via system bus 13.

Further, data is exchanged directly between the network control unit w12 and the group 3 facsimile modem 11.

This facsimile machine stores all received image information on an optical disk! 9 and display it on the CRT display device 5 as appropriate by operating the operation display section 7. Since the image of the received image information is not recorded and output, no recording paper is consumed.

The software of this facsimile machine is a processing program (hereinafter referred to as
The system is divided into an operating system (hereinafter referred to as an operating system) and a program that executes processes such as transmission procedure processing of a facsimile machine (hereinafter referred to as a user process).

In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the part of the operating system that realizes access to the optical disk device 9 is a kernel KN for accepting service requests from the user process UP, and a portion of the operating system that realizes access to the optical disk device 9. It consists of a file management section FM for controlling writing and reading of image information, and a device control section DD for executing data writing/reading operations of the optical disk device 9,
The device control section DD activates the optical disk control section OD, which controls the operation of the optical disk device 9, and executes data write/read operations for the optical disk device 9.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the first part of the work area of the system memory 2 is set to the user area USA allocated to the user process UP, and the received image information, etc. is stored in the user area USA. A write buffer area USB is reserved for writing data.

In addition, the other part of the system memory 2 is set as a system area SYA allocated to the operating system, and this system area SYA is used for writing by the file management unit FM to hold data for writing. A buffer area SYB is secured. Here, the write buffer area SYB has a larger capacity than the write buffer area SYA.

FIG. 4 shows an example of processing executed by the user process UP when writing data.

For example, when the received image information is accumulated in the write buffer area USB, the user process UP sends a data write request to the operating system while specifying the file identification information of the received image information at that time. Issue processing 101), and then waits until the operating system notifies the end of writing (NO in judgment 102).
loop).

Then, when the operating system notifies the end of writing and the result of judgment 102 becomes YES.

This data writing process is completed and the process moves to the next process.

FIG. 5 shows the kernel KN and file management unit F? when a data write request is issued by the user process UP.
An example of processing executed by I is shown.

First, process 201) to save information such as file identification information notified by the user process UP when issuing a data write request, and copy the image information stored in the write buffer area USB to the write buffer area SYB. Processing 20
2) Start the data write operation while notifying the device control unit DD of information such as file identification information (process 203), and notify the user process UP of the end of writing (process 204).

Then, it waits until it is notified by the device control unit DD that the write operation is completed (NO loop of judgment 205),
When it is notified that the write operation has ended and the result of judgment 205 becomes YES, this process ends.

FIG. 6 shows an example of processing executed by the device control unit DD when a data write operation is activated by the file management unit FM.

First, based on information such as file identification information notified by the file management section FM, the data write area for the optical disk drive N9 is determined and processed (30), and the write area is sought by the optical disk control section OD. Let (process 3
02) When the seek is completed, write bath area SYB
The write data stored in the optical disk controller MOD
The data is sequentially transferred to the optical disk group [9] and stored in the optical disk group [9 (process 303).

As a result, it is checked whether recording of all data in the write buffer area SYB has been completed (decision 304), and when the result of the first determination 304 is NO, the next write area is determined (process 305), Returning to step 302, the remaining data is recorded.

Recording of all data is completed, and the result of judgment 304 is YE.
When S is reached, the file management information regarding the data that has been stored at that time is updated (306), the file management unit FM is notified of the end of data writing (307), and this process is terminated.

Here, updating file management information means that when recording a new file, new file management information is generated to manage the recording status of that file, and when data is added to an already existing file, that file Update the file management information to include the added content.

With the above configuration, when a nursing check is detected, the user process UP executes a predetermined pre-transmission procedure, negotiates the data transmission function with the sending side, and internally sets the data transmission function notified by the sending side. to receive image information.

At this time, the user process UP sequentially stores the received image information in the write buffer area USB, and when it has finished receiving the image information for one page, issues a data write request to the operating system.

As a result, this data write request is notified to the file management unit FM via the kernel KN, and the file management unit FM
As described above, copies the image information stored in the write buffer area USB to the write buffer area SYB, and notifies the user process LIP of the end of writing after the copy is completed.

Therefore, the user process finishes receiving the image information for one page, notifies the sending side of the reception status with a response signal, and when receiving the image information of the next page,
The image information of the next page is received 3 and the received image information is stored in the write buffer area USB.

On the other hand, after notifying the user process UP of the end of writing, the file management unit FM activates the writing operation of the device control unit DD and stores the received image information in the optical disk device 9.

Thereby, as described above, the device control unit DD writes the received image information stored in the write buffer area SYB to the optical disk device 9, and when the writing operation is finished, the file management Section F is now ready to accept a request to write the next page of received image information.

Here, since the time required to accumulate one page's worth of received image information in the optical disk device 9 is shorter than the time required to transmit one page's worth of image information, the user process UP is By the time the file management unit FM issues a data write request for the received image information of the page, the file management unit FM is ready to accept the data write request.

Therefore, when the user process IJP issues a data write request for the received image information of the next page, the data write request is accepted by the operating system, and as a result, the received image information of the next page is transferred to the operating system. handed over to.

In this way, in this embodiment, the image information receiving operation of the user process UP and the data writing operation of the operating system are executed in parallel, so that the image information of multiple pages can be appropriately received and the optical disk drive 9 can be recorded.

Incidentally, in the above-described embodiment, a facsimile machine that is not equipped with a plotter for recording and outputting received images has been described, but the present invention can be similarly applied to a facsimile machine that is equipped with a plotter.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where it is applied to a group 3 facsimile machine is explained, but one aspect of the present invention is as follows.
It can be similarly applied to Group 4 facsimile machines.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, a write buffer area with a larger storage capacity than the user process buffer area in which the user process saves write data is secured, and the user process can write data. When a request is issued,
The write data stored in the buffer area for the user process at that time is copied to the write buffer area, and when the data copying is completed, the user process is notified of the end of writing, and the data is transferred to the external storage device. Since the recording operation is started, the end of writing is notified immediately after the user process issues a data write request.
The user process has the advantage of being able to appropriately receive the next image information.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a group 3 facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the software system configuration, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the work area allocation status, and FIG. Figure 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the data writing process of the user process.
The figure is a flowchart showing an example of data write processing by the file management section, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of write operation processing by the device control section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a data write method in which data is written to an external storage device whose access time is longer than the response time required by the user process, a write buffer whose storage capacity is larger than the user process buffer area in which the user process saves the write data. When the area is secured and a data write request is issued from the user process, the write data stored in the buffer area for the user process at that time is copied to the above write buffer area, and the data copying is completed. A data writing method characterized by notifying a user process of the completion of writing at the time of writing, and starting a data recording operation to an external storage device.